Kibbee Gallery is an alternative art space located in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia for emerging artists to display their work.
Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 2pm - 6pm.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Currently on Display @Kibbee Gallery

ACelebration of Imagination

by Chris Neuenschwander

Imagination, it is what we
use to explain the things we do not understand. It is how we open a jar
of octopus while riding down the highway on a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich. Sometimes we do not want grape jelly, sometimes we just want
strawberry. That is important, we always like to have that choice.
Life is funny and far too stressful to take seriously. That is why,
when given the option, we all chose imagination over butterfly wings.
Looking back on it I do not think the butterfly wings would have been a
bad choice. That’s my one regret. Now, if only we had a can opener. Pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of lying on your back,
staring at the sky and turning vague, random pieces of cloud information
into things that we can understand. Things we want to see, things we
hope to see, things we wish existed, things we think exist, and things
we think we thought we saw. Stories unfold and plots play out. Hippos
can fly, and penguins should dance. The moral of the story is whether
something is supposed to be in the air or not, we have to suspend
disbelief and accept it for what it is. Where there is a will and a
way, there is a walrus who can operate a jet pack. Let us not take that
away from him. He worked hard to get where he is, and where he is, is
about 10,000 feet above where he should be. Do not define yourself by
limitations set by others. Define yourself by popsicles and Broadway
musicals. The absence of a ground plane will make your imagination go
wild. There is nothing to limit and define what you are thinking or
experiencing. With no frame of reference, and nothing familiar, go wild.
Just make it quick, my parents will be home at eleven. Ethereal.

Review: “Echoes” showcases Atlanta artists’ printmaking chops

By Catherine Fox

Paul Rodecker: "Skol I," detail

Seeing the shows at Kibbee Gallery used
to be a two-shot affair: at the opening and the closing. Thankfully,
the gallery is now open Thursdays through Saturdays. I say “thankfully”
because Kibbee is one of the best places to see a mix of Atlanta artists
at various stages in their careers. Guest curator Joe Elias Tsambiras
has assembled such a group in “Echoes: Adventures in Printmaking,”
which runs through April 28. The Kennesaw State University professor
brings together seasoned artists such as Matthew Sugarman and talented students such as Ashlyn Pope in an exhibition that showcases wide-ranging approaches to the medium. These
artists print on anything from paper towels to stuffed animals, and a
number of them liberate the print from the frame. The collective Plastic Aztecs
takes to the walls in “A Whiff of Uncertainty,” in which little cut-out
screen prints resembling spider webs and other bits of nature float as
if in thin air, some actually jutting out from the wall.

Plastic Aztecs: "Whiff of Uncertainty (detail)

The
elements battle it out in Stephanie Smith’s ”Obscured Vision.” The
University of West Georgia professor created giant woodcuts affixed to
board to create an installation in which a hovering cloud dripping huge
raindrops threatens to douse the campfire below. Silk-screened
pigs (the aforementioned animals) do fly, along with kites, all of
which seem to be soaring out of a cardboard container like a
Hydra-headed jack-in-the-box in Chris Neuenschwander’s whimsical sculpture.Paul Rodecker
uses a computer program Manga Studio, designed for drawing comics, in
his “Skol” series. The images are all hand-drawn, according to gallery
director Ben Goldman, and the artist pushed the limits of the software.
The prints depict a large skull, which he has filled to various degrees
with dense passages of imagery — body parts, flora – that evoke the
“horror vacuii” of medieval arts, not to mention just plain horror.
Rodecker represents a skull-and-bones Goth sensibility, one of the
leitmotifs that holds the show together. The image of the hand is a recurring image, and the sense of implied narrative is a common thread. The pieces belonging to Mariana Depetris‘
“Tale of the Handless Maiden” series exemplify both. These delicate
mixed-media works, which evoke the intimacy of the artist’s private
notebook, are inspired by female protagonists of dark folk tales and
stories.

Mariana Depetris: "The Handless Maiden, #1"

Tsambiras takes a page (forgive me) from medieval manuscripts in “Flow of Memories.” In this beautifully executed viscosity etching & aquatint, tendrils
and leaves of vines pierce disembodied hands and feet. The image brings
to mind the Crucifixion, but also sundry stories in which human
characters are physically melded into nature. The same theme appears in
two pieces by KSU student Ashlyn Pope, though with a more sexual
resonance.

Given
all the references to archetypes, myths and medieval art, it would seem
that “Echoes” is even more apt as a title than Tsambiras intended.